Glass Etching, Easy as Pie!

My Recycling Illness

I love Kombucha.  But O my, the stuff is expensive.   My co-worker bought me one as a treat and now I am doomed to drink the stuff until I die.  Good thing it's healthy, otherwise I would never forgive the girl who started this whole obsession.

So now that I have this habit, I figured out a way not to feel so guilty.  Yes, the bottle is glass and it can be recycled, but better yet, reuse it in a new and pretty way.

Have you ever tried glass etching?  

Glass etching is fun and easy.  I can even do it by myself and I usually need my husband to help with everything.  Etching makes me feel smart and creative.  And Happy!

Shopping List:
Etching Acid
Pen
Clear contact paper
Sharp exacto-knife
Tape
Small paint brush

Step One:

Choose a cute font and type the words or letters you want to etch.  You may have to experiment with the size or bold your text.  For my design, I chose the font Big Caslon, the size is 144 for the 'H' & 'O' and the '2' is size 96.  Testing fonts and sizing could take hours.  Soooo much fun!  Print your text.  You can also etch designs instead of text.  This is where you can really go crazy!

Step Two:  

Place the contact paper over the text and tape in place.  Trace with a non-smudgy pen--not a felt tip.  For this design you will have to move the contact paper to trace the '2' so that is lower.

Step Three:

Peel the contact paper backing and position on your glass bottle as desired.  Carefully smooth out all the bubbles.

Step Four:

With an exacto-knife, trace the pen lines, pressing firmly enough to cut in one, clean line.  In other words, you want it to be as straight as possible, not hacked.  I am not that great at this part, but you will improve with practice.  Don't fret, just do it!  Once you trace the letters, use the point of the blade to pick out the contact paper from inside the lettering.  If you missed a spot with the blade and it doesn't come out cleanly, recut the area instead of pulling and stretching the contact paper.

Step Five:

Paint on the etching acid and let sit for 10 minutes.  The bottle directions instruct 5 minutes, but we have found that 10 is better.  We also discovered that it's best to lay the bottle flat instead of up right.  This will prevent the acid from running onto the glass.

Step Six:

Rinse the acid off the bottle before removing the contact paper.

Step Seven:

Rejoice that you have have just created Splendid Trash!  We keep these babies filled with water, stocked in our fridge.  Water tastes better in a glass bottle labeled H2O.